This written description refers to a request for a Patent of Invention for a generator of nomenclature for colors, which is to be used so that a color may be uniquely identified by a number that completely defines it.
The number or degree used as the defining reference for the color, and which also represents its components, is accompanied by a second number that indicates the degree of darkness or lightness of the color relative to black or white, respectively.
The invention makes it possible to catalog all colors usually found in nature and provides easy access to the nomenclature that defines them through the use of cards that contain all of the information needed to ensure that a color may be reproduced under any circumstances.
The invention is to be used in the manufacturing industry for graphic arts materials and equipment, and may also be used in the industry devoted to the manufacture of tools, materials and auxiliary devices for colorimetry and its codified communication system based on the 0 to 360 degrees that represent a full circle.
The applicant is aware of the existence of color generators based on the reproduction on cards of a limited range of similar colors which are accompanied by an identifying number, in general use.
While the association of each color with a more or less randomly chosen number creates a relation between them and therefore permits the reproduction of the color, serious problems arise if it is necessary to know the number associated with any particular mixture of colors, with the user having to be very familiar with color generators of this type.
The applicant is aware of the existence of a system that makes it possible to generate from various mathematical operations a number which is uniquely associated with each color, and of the existence of a second number that provides information regarding the lightness of the color relative to white or the darkness relative to black, that is, information on the tone of the color.
In this way, each color can be expressed as the sum of a particular number of units of two of the three primary colors, with the number or degree of 120 being assigned to yellow, the number 0 or degree of 360 to magenta, and the number 60 or the degree of 240 to cyan; and, using sixtieths of a degree, any color can be represented by a number between 0 to 360 degrees, produced by the addition of a determined amount of the primary colors mentioned above.
The operations resemble the sum of coordinates that cross at one point and whose module or vector indicates the relative quantity of units of each color, so that the result of the sum of any quantity of the two primary colors will always be a number limited either above or below by the numbers representing the primary colors that are used in the mixture.
In addition, the proportion of the supplementary color provides a number that is related to the lightness of the color. This falls between 0 and 22, with black representing a darkness of 100%, and which for better understanding we shall refer to as a TANS unit; and white representing a lightness of 100%, which we shall call the SANT unit. Both units are newly created.
It would be desirable to have an extensive graphic display of the infinite colors that could be generated, as well as the associated identifying number of the color and the number that indicates its tone. It would also be desirable if this same display could reflect the relative quantities of the primary colors used in the mixture.
The generator of objective nomenclature for colors that is the subject of this description is clearly a new item within its field of use, because it is a mechanism that makes it possible to rapidly locate a color, the numbers associated with the color, the tone and the proportion of the two primary colors of which it is composed.
More specifically, the invention is composed of a number of rectangular cards bearing vertical and horizontal lines which produce a large number of rows and columns.
Each of the rectangular cards represents one color, thus having the same identifying number and differing in the proportion of each of the primary colors contained in the particular color, creating a second identifying number that is transcribed in rows on the invention along with the numbers representing the proportion of the primary colors of which the color is composed, and which are also transcribed in rows.
At the right end of each of the rows mentioned above there is a graphical display of the color.
The cards thus created are held together by whatever device is usually used for this purpose.